V - the Visitors

Prologue (1 of 3)

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Detroit, 1983.

In the course of their investigations the detectives Anderson and Reed have driven to a tiny loading dock at the Detroit river. Here they take a break for a quick snack. One of them, at least.

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Gavin: “You sure you don‘t want anything? Could be a long afternoon today…”

Hank: “I’ll eat when real food becomes available again. Meat, boy!”

Gavin: “Fish is meat.”

Hank: “Hell, no! Even vegetarians eat fish! Such a pity I got paired with an upright walking cat instead of with a human!”

Gavin: “I won’t argue with you while your twin watches over you. Two against one isn’t fair!”

Hank: “Twin…?”

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Following Gavin’s gaze, Hank looks over his shoulder. Then both men laugh.

Hank: “Oh, Gavin… never change!”

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Hank watches his co-worker snack on his fish sandwich, occasionally casting a casual gaze over the dock or into the sky. The air is flickering, what is strange, because it isn’t that hot today.

Hank flinches…

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Gavin: “Huh? For a moment I thought I’d seen… something. In the sky. But it’s only the seagulls.”

Hank: “Nah. I wasn’t sure myself, but now that you noticed it, too, I realize that there is indeed something odd up about the sky.”

Gavin: “In case of a concealed UFO, how far upwards exactly does the DPD’s jurisdiction reach?”

Hank: “I dunno. But I know I’m going to clamp the suckers the moment they land somewhere they shouldn’t!”

Gavin: “And for real? What do you think is causing this? Pest Control Supply & Co. releasing their waste into the environment again, maybe?”

Hank: “Yeah, sounds about right.”

Prologue (3 of 3)

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And so the Jericho dropped her cloaking device right over Detroit…

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Hank: “I see seagulls and… some kind of jellyfish.”

Gavin: “Jellyfish. Right. Totally a five mile diameter jellyfish.”

…

Gavin: “Hank?”

Hank: “Yes, Gavin?”

Gavin: “I think I’m not that fond of seafood anymore.”

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Not just the humans were shocked at the sight of the UFO, the vessel’s Captain, too, was in for a surprise.

John: “Jericho! What was that just now? You were instructed to assume hovering position over New York! However, our grid shows you over Detroit!”

Markus: “NY is at the ocean, Sir. Salt water. Detroit has access to the Great Lakes and superior trade lines. Plus, the Jericho will cover two human countries in this spot.”

John: “Neither of that excuses your solo action, Captain! What would you tell the Great Thinker, if they asked you about this?”

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Markus: “Well, that’s the beauty of our leader: being aptly titled. They think and would see my point.”

John: “Well, and I think that was one insubordination too much, Lieutenant Markus. The “Jericho” is to remain in her spot, we’ll send someone more reliable to New York. And you will prepare for the arrival of a new Captain to take over.”

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Markus: “Oh, plum…”

Simon: “I’m unfamiliar with that word.”

Markus: “It’s not generally taught to personnel. The Supreme Leader fears we might use it in front of the humans.”

Simon: “Sounds like a word that will make anybody NOT using it a lot stand out like a gecko in heat in a wheatfield.”

Markus: “Stick out like a sore thumb.”

Simon: “Huh?”

Markus: “You did it again. You translated a saying literally when there is a perfectly valid english phrase you could have used instead.”

Simon: “I did? Oh, plum!”

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And so the Visitors had come to stay. After the initial confusion, followed by a public meeting between Supreme Commander John and the United Nations Secretary-General, the two species tentatively got to know each other. The aliens immediately buying Belle Isle from the city of Detroit tarnished their reputation a little, but then again, the arrivals acting like rich tourists that could buy their way through town made them relatable. They even wore sunglasses all the time…

Because of the purchase, Detroit now had access to Visitor currency and vis a vis. It was deemed a good start.

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Amanda: “My name is Amanda, I’m the Captain of the Detroit Mothership. This here is Lt. Markus, my right hand. The other Motherships boast about how much they can do for you "Earthlings", which is true, of course, but after our journey we’re also very excited to learn about local customs and just relax.
We’re looking forwards to learning from each other. I’m sure we can do great things together, things we never dared dreaming of individually!”

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Amanda’s words became the Detroit Mothership’s official slogan and got replicated on thousands of posters. They were for sale same as action figures of Amanda and Markus.

A week later Markus and the Jericho's bridge crew were found drunk and stripped almost bare in a back alley but still remained steadfast in their conviction that coming to Detroit had been the right decision. They treated their stay as an exotic vacation that they enjoyed every minute of.

Humans and Visitors - united in consumerism first, curiosity second. It wasn’t what the movies had trained the people of Earth to expect from a first contact with aliens. But under the hood things weren’t as nice as on the surface, because nobody suspected that there might be a Visitors Vs. Visitors conflict ongoing…

I was at school when the original V and V The Final Battle aired on TV. It's one of my favourite science fiction shows of all time so you've got me interested from the get go. Will you have cameos from some of the original characters like Martin Donovan, Ham Tyler, Diana or Julie? Simon is a good nod to Willy from the TV show with his malaprops.

After his shift, on his way to the parking lot, Gavin passed by one of the posters advertising Human-Visitor cooperation, even friendship.

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“We’ll do great things together, huh? Wrong city for that, Amanda-dear.”

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Fingers unfamiliar with the task moved a spray paint can left and right, up and down, until eventually two rows of crude letters were formed:

GO HOME

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Gavin turned around and ran away. He might not have accomplished anything, and in fact, the man didn’t even feel any better after letting out his frustration.

For once Detroit had gotten graced with something good: technologically advanced aliens that were do-gooders through and through. But they were also… Gavin didn’t know what exactly the Visitors were doing wrong, only that it was showing “in everything” and that the aliens just didn’t want to see the damage they were doing. Something like that. In any case, they needed to go away!

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Meanwhile in the Detroit suburbs, police officer Chris Miller and a Visitor named Timothy were watching the Bellamy family residence, where a “scientist family” was living.

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Chris: “What science exactly do the Professors Bellamy teach?”

Timothy: “I dunno. Does it matter?”

Chris: “…probably not. I’m just a bit annoyed at all the “Scientist” Conspiracy talk, as if that was an occupation like baker or hair stylist.”

Timothy: “Yeah. How about we call it “Nerd Conspiracy” instead?”

Chris: “That sounds a lot less intimidating, lol.”

Timothy: “Haha, you’re right! Or, here’s is a good one: Comparative Literature Studies Conspiracy!”

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Chris: “Thank you for the laugh, Tim! I sure feel silly watching this house on a random day.”

Timothy: “It’s not that random, you know. With the big art exhibition in Detroit today, Captain Amanda suspects the Bellamys might use that as a distraction to slip out of town. And if they try that, we shoot them. You ready to do that, Chris?”

Chris: “Of course! I mean, why would they flee, if not because they are guilty? If they have nothing to fear, they’ll calmly stay put.”

Timothy: “…guess so.”

Back at Kasbah Gallery, Daniel was still talking to the human who shared his first name with the Visitors fleet’s Supreme Commander: John Phillips, car dealership owner and driving teacher.

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John: “So how’s my best driving student doing? Your reflexes are astonishing, Daniel! I take it you have a military background?”

Daniel: “Me? Haha, no! I’m a teacher.”

Caroline: “A teacher… just like you, John! Haha, that’s so surreal! Aliens drop out of the sky and they are cops and teachers and accountants! Not to mention human.”

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John: “True, but come to think of it, what else should they be? Only primates have the capability to advance to sapience and invent space flight. Birds lack hands. And reptiles would laze around on heated rocks all day.”

Daniel: “Advanced reptiles would build houses with heat lamps. If you installed those at your workplace, that would function like a coffee shower for humans.”

John: “They’d still spend much of their time resting.”

Daniel: “They’d use the time to think! A lot!”

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Caroline: “But there wouldn’t come anything out of it. You know how the innermost part of our brain is called the Reptile? Because they passed it down to the proto-mammals. And to this day the reptile is still the best actual reptiles can bring to the table in the brain department.”

Daniel: “That’s where you err, Caroline! Reptiles are actually pretty clever!”

Caroline: “It’s cute how you defend them, Daniel. Got a pet lizard?”

Daniel: “I used to, back home, but that’s beside the point!”

Caroline: “Let’s face it, reptiles are outdated creatures that evolution has discarded long ago in favor of primates.”

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Later the bartender wouldn’t be able to explain just how Daniel had crossed the distance between himself and the Phillips couple. Everything had happened so fast, like an alligator attack. For half a minute the man watched the brawl in stunned silence, then he hit the panic button that would alert the DPD. Fortunately a police car was parked right outside the art gallery.

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The first responder’s name was Antony Deckart and he went ahead full of confidence. Alien or not, Daniel wasn’t Antony’s first arrest in a bar and would hardly be the last.

“Come on, lad, drunk tank’s waiting! Consider it a rite of passage, then it’ll sting less!”

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When Marlon Wilson arrived just a couple of moments later, he almost dripped over Antony. K.O.ing an officer that quickly attested the Visitor a respectable strength, so Marlon switched to a Martial Arts style that he hoped Daniel would not be able to match.

Daniel: “What’s that going to be? A dance competition?”

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THUD!

Marlon’s boot connected with something solid. There wasn’t just skin under the Visitor’s jacket. A security vest, maybe.

On second thought… Visitors in general were moving slowly and Daniel was no exception. Only after he had entered combat mode had Daniel sped up and was now acting with astonishing reflexes. Adding that to superhuman strength and the mysterious dermal plating, Marlon came to a conclusion about what he was facing off with here:

“A robot! Holy plum, I’m fighting a robot!”

On and on the fight went, until suddenly small feet skipped down the stairs. They belonged to Cole Anderson, one of the children Daniel had brought to the art gallery today.

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The boy either wasn’t aware of the police operation downstairs or he was under the impression that being the Lieutenant’s son cleared him to watch it, in any case Cole arrived in a cheerful mood - that died the moment his eyes fell on his afterschool teacher.

“D…d…daniel? What are you doing, Daniel?! Are you drunk?”

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His ward’s arrival caused to Daniel to momentarily hesitate.

“Daniel! Stop attacking people!” Cole called out in his squeaky voice that was reminiscent of a mouse’s. “The cops won’t hurt you! Just fine you, and I bet you can even put that on your expense list! Please surrender! I promise it’ll be okay!”

Daniel didn’t care for any of the words, but Cole’s tone resonated within him. The boy’s disappointment was more than the Visitor could take now. He started moving slower, less coordinated, although far from sluggish.

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Slowing down didn’t make Daniel any less of a danger in melee, but he was now a valid target for David Allen, the third cop who had been in the police car. David didn’t take any chances. Soon as he had an unobstructed line of sight, he emptied a full magazine of gel rounds into Daniel.
As the Visitor went down, he cursed little Cole for “tricking” him.

The cops grinned, after all, a little spite in the face of this defeat was to be expected. And then they smiled with relieve, because Daniel was still breathing, his heart beating. Uncanny combat powers notwithstanding, this was a living being, not a robot.

Chapter 4: Naked Truth

That evening Lt. Hank Anderson stayed late at work. The reason for this decision was kept in the rightmost holding cell, a certain prisoner Hank needed to make sure didn’t get mistreated. With no other pressing concerns, the man tried to familiarize himself with the computers the Visitors had donated to the DPD.

Meanwhile Hank’s son from a failed marriage was playing on a carpet on the floor, waiting for the second prisoner, his afterschool club teacher Daniel, to come back to his senses.

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Cole: “Swoosh! Bam! Pow! Pow!”

Hank: “What’s going on down there? Sounds serious!”

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Cole: “It is! The evil robo-overlord has captured Simon in a stasis tube. Amanda battles him, but robo-overlord is stronger. So Markus sneaks around robo-overlord and frees Simon!”

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Hank: “That was clever of him. Aaaaaaand - kiss!”

Cole: “Ew, no, kissing is gross!”

A couple of hours after getting K.O.ed in the art gallery, Daniel woke up in a prison cell.

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Surprisingly that wasn’t new for the teacher. Life on the Visitor mothership was organized in a military fashion and ending up in detention now and then was pretty common across all ranks, the actual military members and the former civilians alike. And in any case getting locked up in solitary was still better than some of the chores you could get put to.

The question now was just how angry was Amanda at Daniel?

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A quick look around revealed that the cell came with breakfast of the catch-it-yourself variant. The breakfast was wearing a leather jacket and was far too large to get swallowed whole. So that was the first chicanery during Daniel’s detention. Visitors were perfectly able to sustain themselves on dead meat, but smaller, live game was preferred and believed to be healthier.

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Daniel (internally): I’m not going to eat this! It’s unhygienic, not to mention that a whole human for a single person is wasteful.

It was a moot point anyway, since Daniel was still feeling like having collided with the mothership. The Visitor was in no condition to hunt large game.

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While pondering his food options, Daniel noticed that the constant hum of a mothership in hover mode was missing. Maybe he was at the Visitor base at Belle Isle?
The prisoner took a step towards the cell door. A quick look outside revealed a mixture of human furniture and Visitor tech. A handful of humans in police uniforms were present, pretending to work.

Daniel: “Wait, what, are we at the DPD?!”

Breakfast Cellmate: “Where else?”

Daniel: “Oh.”

This detention had just went downhill from icky breakfast to no breakfast at all. Nothing species appropriate for a Visitor at least.

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Gavin: “So now there’s no place you Visitors haven’t visited, ey? Haha! You’ll make the news, dude, the first alien to get fined for a drunken brawl! How did you get plastered in the first place, even? The way you went at my co-workers, one would think a guy with your condition would be able to keep his booze.”

Daniel: “Shut up! I wasn’t drunk! The Phillips were being jerks! - Wait, your co-workers you said? Then why are you in here, if you’re a cop? Spying on me?!”

Gavin: “Graffitti’ing the building… I'm getting better at the actual act, but didn't improve in the Get-away-quickly-afterwards department.”

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Daniel: “Ah, so. And do you by chance know Lt. Anderson?”

Gavin: “He’s been my partner for years.”

Daniel: “Then you also know little Cole?”

Gavin: “Sure!“

Daniel: “I think I just lost my appetite…”

Gavin: ???

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Gavin: “I don’t know what that meant just now, or what got into you in the art gallery. But I DO know that I’m fed up with you “Visitors”!
Hank is staying late today to make sure I’m “safe”, from what- or whoever. Because you criminalized my brother (nevermind he’s perfectly able to criminalize himself), my career, too, is going down the drain!”

Daniel: “Hey! Hands off!”

Gavin: “You wish! How many more bruises do you think Hank can explain away as you having sustained them in the brawl, hm? I’ll spell it out it for you: A whole d--- lot!”

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Daniel: “Kch… kch…”

Gavin: “There the mighty hero from outerspace is… Ha! Even you need to breath like any living creature. So, what are you gonna do now?”

Daniel couldn’t tell. He was, however, quite certain what his body would do reflexively, if the human didn’t let go of him in one… two…

*GOB!*

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Gavin: “Ouch, ouch, ouch! Did you just SPIT at me?!”

Squirting acid that could leave a large mammal such as Gavin temporarily blinded was a tried and true defense mechanism of the Visitors. And it would have worked against a random pedestrian, but not a detective who had learned the ropes in the streets of Detroit. It took more than a little pepper spray to incapitate Gavin Reed.

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Gavin quickly wiped the acid off his face, then attacked his cellmate again. The human was better trained, more experienced in dirty fighting, the Visitor was naturally stronger and quicker, but a non-combatent in addition to just having woken up from unconsciousness. Gavin didn’t expect his opponent to flinch away instead of attacking back, and so his fingers scraped across Daniel’s skin… that suddenly gave way, revealing a second layer underneath.

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Gavin: “A mask? You’re wearing a rubber mask? And this is what you’re looking like underneath? Like the proverbial little green men from Mars?!"

Daniel: “Wrong, human. This is how I look with the glue that holds the mask in place smeared all over my face. And with contact lenses.”

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Gavin: “Hank! Hank, come quick! There’s some weird critter in my cell!”

Daniel: “Says the little pink man from outer space…”